


A Rose By Any Other Name

by moonbands



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Ashton - Freeform, Lashton - Freeform, Luke - Freeform, M/M, and, barista!calum, jerk!michael, like I'm serious Michael threatens everyone he talks to, malum, mentions of - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-04-27 02:29:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5030182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonbands/pseuds/moonbands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Calum's life as a college student with the low-paying job of coffee shop barista would be so much easier if people like Michael didn't come into his coffee shop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Rose By Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pnkrckclffrd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pnkrckclffrd/gifts).



"I'm not fucking buying a $3000 car just so you can fuck it up more to sell it," Calum hears as he's putting in creamer to a to-go cup full of coffee. He glances behind him to see who's cursing so loudly in a family area, and almost spills the whole bottle of creamer into the cup. He mumbles under his breath as he wipes the side of the cup with a cloth after putting on a lid. He hands the cup to the waiting customer, smiling and telling him to have a great day.

"No, I don't even have $3000. Why did you start this business if I do all the work, anyways? I'm gonna fucking quit, Luke, and murder you in your sleep. I haven't gotten a wink of shut-eye in 3 days because you call me at 2 am every night to buy you a new shitty car." The obnoxious cellphone talker takes a pause to tell Calum he wants a "venti macchiato to-go" and to "hurry up with it" because "I have a class in 15 minutes and my stupid coworker won't get off the phone until I get there."

Calum's dealt with rude customers before. It's not like every day was sunshine and roses. It's just that, well, he's never been so attracted to someone who looks like they live under a rock and is surviving on 10 cups of coffee a day and still manages to have the energy to 1. be rude to a college employee that only wants world peace and free tuition and 2. shout curse words loudly into a phone in the middle of a coffee shop.

"Can I have a name?" Calum reluctantly asks, knowing that putting a name to a face will only make him become more interested. 

"Why don't you buy it yourself?" the customer speaks into the phone angrily before putting a hand over the receiver. "It's Michael." He turns away before continuing with his conversation. "I'm not a fucking slave, this is your job. God, don't ever ask me to work with you again."

Calum turns around and works on the coffee, tapping his foot to get rid of the anger bubbling up in his stomach. As he starts writing down Michael's name, he has an idea. It's petty, and might not even be noticed, but he just wants to mess with a rude customer just once.

He turns back around, handing the cup to the impatient boy, still lively chattering on his phone. Michael looks at the cup, and his mouth turns into a thin line as he glances at Calum. Calum smiles innocently, pretending he doesn't know he spelled "Micheal" instead of "Michael." He wishes the boy a good day before turning to the next customer in line. He feels a weird sense of satisfaction as he sees Michael leave the shop out of the corner of his eye.

Maybe he won't have to deal with him again.

 

Of course, Calum is wrong. Well, when is he ever right when it comes to making his life easier? The rude boy comes back the very next morning, and it's like nothing changed in his attitude within the 24 hours he was away from the shop.

"Are you fucking kidding me? I bought that car for, like, 200 bucks and you're telling me you sold it for 1900? Are you scamming people?" Michael steps forward, running his fingers through his dyed hair as he looks at Calum. He moves the phone from his ear to speak to the barista. "Venti macchiato to-go. Name's Michael, A-E, not E-A."

Calum collects his money, handing him his change, before turning back around to work the coffee machine. As he writes his name, he figures he might as well keep the employee-customer hatred thing going so he intentionally misspells his name again.

"Of course I don't believe you. I've known you for eleven years, shithead. I don't want to get arrested or else I'm going to kick your ass so hard that you're going to be tasting my foot." Michael takes the drink from Calum, automatically checking his name before rolling his eyes. Calum smiles and wishes him a great day, loving the feeling of knowing he can make this person's day just a little bit worse by writing "Micael" on his cup.

Michael all but storms out of the shop, and Calum hopes that's the last time he comes face to face with that weirdly gorgeous yet rude person.

 

Yet again, it seems as though his silent prayers to a god he doesn't believe in have failed him once more. The third day in a row brings in the customer, and Michael looks like someone poked his eyes until he started begging for them to stop. That was a very weird way to describe how sleepy he looks, but Calum doesn't have time to think about his brain works before he's met with the familiar sailor words spewing from that luscious pink mouth.

"Don't you fucking dare, Luke. When I get over there I'm going to--put Luke back on the phone." Michael glances up at Calum, and his face goes stone hard. "Venti macchiato to-go. Michael has an h in it."

Calum actually feels kind of scared as their hands brush when they exchange bills. Michael looks like he could kill Calum with the snap of his fingers, and Calum almost resorts to forgetting the whole misspelling event and letting the guy off the hook. But then he opens his mouth again.

"Ashton, get your boyfriend back on the phone or, I swear to god, I will rip his throat out right in front of you. No, I'm not kidding. I will tie you up and make you watch." Michael looks up at Calum, who is pretty sure he looks like he's witnessing a murder already. "What are you staring at? Go make my coffee."

Calum turns around and scrunches up his face as he makes the coffee. How can one soft looking person be so violent? And rude? He figures he's all talk and no action, considering he's known this Luke person for eleven years and hasn't actually killed him yet. This thought helps him write "Mhicael" on the cup without shaky hands.

Turning back around, he puts on his smile again for this boy, and wishes him a good day. He doesn't miss the cold look Michael throws him before leaving the shop, and suddenly the room lifts from tension.

Calum thinks that for sure this must be the last time he meets Michael.

 

Calum is about to punch the wall or something when he hears a familiar voice. "I told you they'd figure it out, shitbag. Yes, I said shitbag. You are a bag of shit." Michael bites his lip as he listens to whoever is on the other line on his phone. "No, you're paying for it. It's not my fault you loved Matilda as a child, Luke. I can't believe you fucking sold a shitty-ass car. In what world did you think you'd get away with that?"

"Can I get you something?" Calum asks, looking behind Michael at the line getting longer the more time he spends talking to his friend. 

Michael holds up a finger, making Calum wait impatiently as he replies to Luke, "Get your fucking act together before you get arrested. I'm not bailing you out of jail for selling people shitty cars. You wanted to be a car dealer, so now you need to be a legal one." Michael pauses to let Calum know "venti macchiato to-go, do you even know how to spell Michael?" He produces the right amount of cash for his drink, which Calum is actually surprised of. 

Calum turns around, listening to Michael's scratchy voice as he fills the cup with coffee. He absentmindedly makes the coffee to order, putting on the lid. He grabs the permanent marker and writes a misspelling of Michael's name again, figuring he doesn't really deserve an Instagram-aesthetic picture ever. 

With the words "My kale" on the cup, he hands it off to Michael, who stands there for a second staring at the drink. 

"What the fuck is your problem?" Michael asks, and it takes Calum a second to realize he's not talking to Luke over the phone. 

"Uhh, um, what?" Calum nervously shuffles on his feet, suddenly uncomfortable when the boy's anger is directed towards him. 

"Why do you always spell my name wrong? I'm pretty sure you know how to spell it because you keep messing up the order of a single letter. Are you just a lame-ass loser that gets a kick out of spelling people's names wrong?" Michael hasn't hung up his phone yet, Calum can see the seconds on the call still ticking by. 

"I--I just, uh, you're kind of rude." Calum ducks his head, pretending to be interested in something on the counter the coffee shop owners demands to be spotless after every order. 

"So that's a reason to spell my name wrong?" Michael asks, staring daggers into Calum's face. "Whatever. I have to go."

"Have a good--"

"Don't fucking tell me to have a good day," Michael storms off, leaving Calum feeling shitty and humiliated in front of all the people in the line. 

Calum has a hard time believing he'll ever be seeing Michael in the shop again.

 

As luck may have it, Calum finds himself face to face with a scruffy boy whose eyes don't look bloodshot anymore, and his hair is a neat kind of messy. That's not the only difference, Calum notices, when Michael looks extremely different just from the fact he doesn't have a phone practically glued to the side of his face.

Michael sheepishly steps up to the counter, ordering a venti macchiato to-go, of course, not bothering to tell Calum his name. As Michael hands him the correct change for the drink, Calum notices something written on one of the bills. It reads, "I'm not good with words. I'm sorry."

Calum sighs and puts the rest of the change in the cash register before handing Michael back the bill. "Do you have another bill? We can't take defaced money." 

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure." Michael digs through his pocket before handing Calum another bill. Calum puts it in the register and turns around to make Michael's drink, the silent boy sort of freaking him out when he's not threatening someone over the phone.

"Um, I'm sorry for yesterday," Michael talks to Calum's back. "And, I guess, the days before. I didn't realize how rude I was being. I get pretty cranky when I run on two hours of sleep each night."

"Yeah, you're pretty rude," Calum replies. "But it's okay. I get that way when I haven't slept much for days too." He turns around and places the cup on the counter before realizing he forgot a lid. 

"Um, it kind of sucks that I was rude to you. I'm not really used to talking to attractive people." Michael traces a finger along the counter, and Calum almost drops about four lids.

"Oh." Calum doesn't know what to say to that, so he just picks the cup back up and looks for the permanent marker. He writes Michael's name (correctly), and then adds an extra note before he can change his mind. 

"Here you go," he hands the cup to Michael. The boy doesn't look at it, but Calum can tell he really wants to.

"Aren't you going to tell me to have a nice day with a pretty smile to go with?" Michael asks, his own lips curling into a smile he's trying to hide.

Calum intentionally looks at Michael's cup for a long time before glancing up at the boy's eyes, his mouth turning into his smile, a little more natural this time. "Have a good day, Michael."

"Thank you, you too. I'll see you tomorrow." As Michael turns to leave, he looks down at the cup, and a big grin takes over his face as he looks back at Calum. 

Calum is talking to the next customer, but he smirks as Michael lets the coffee shop door ring behind him. Calum tries not to think of how lame his number looks along with "in case you want to yell at me more" written on Michael's cup. He watches Michael take out his phone from outside the shop window, and he excitedly chatters to whoever is on the other line. 

Calum thinks he wouldn't mind seeing Michael again.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this really quickly because I was struck by inspiration so if I'm mentally dead at 6 am today it's because I stayed up till 12:30 writing this. Also, what did you think! Always open to critiques and reviews!


End file.
